1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is boat docks for pleasure boats and especially those boat docks which are portable, i.e., may be easily placed into and removed from the water as desired or needed.
2. Description of the Related Art
As any experienced or inexperienced boatman will tell you, it is much more convenient and easier to dock one's boat to a pier or other dock facility than it is to beach the boat at the shore of a lake or other body of water. At a docking facility, means are usually provided to tie the boat up and restraints placed on one or both sides to keep it from floating away or from being struck by other boats. On a pier type dock, the boat may be brought up to the pier and then both ends of the boat tied to the pier with a cushioning material such as a rubber tire between the two. Other docks may have individual slips for boats and the boat need only to be tied at its bow end to a holding facility with a rope or the like, the slip providing constructed walkways on each side of the boat.
However, problems immediately arise if one is attempting to dock a boat at a lake or other body of water not having or away from an established dock facility. In that case, generally the boat is beached if possible, and if not possible, run up to the shoreline as close as can be accomplished and then the boat tied by means of a rope to a tree or some other standard near the edge of the lake. This manner of docking leaves one's boat subject to drift and possible damage due to the drift or, damages due to other causes when the boat is not made secure other than the tieing the bow.
Now there have been dock assemblies available to sportsmen for docking away from a recognized docking facility. For example, Trnka in U.S. Pat. No. 2,930,339, discloses a small boat mooring device wherein a small boat equipped with eyelets on both sides of the stern is moved or backed into position next to the dock. At that time the invention's "U" shaped arms operably attach to the dock connects with the spaced apart eyelets on the stern of the small boat. The central portion of the "U" shaped mooring device is firmly held to the dock. In addition, steps are provided on the arms for a person stepping from the dock into the stern of the boat.
In another dock facility, Viles in U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,726 discloses a boat dock construction of an easily assembled pier type. Lastly, Harris in U.S. Pat No. 2,774,322, discloses a portable floating dry dock for a sea plane consisting of three sections connected together by struts, one section situated at the front of the plane and partially submerged sections under each wing of the plane.
While the above devices certainly accomplish the purpose for which they were devised, yet the inventors are unaware of any portable docking facility which may be easily picked up and carried by the sportsman in his vehicle or in the boat itself which is to be docked and which may be readily emplaced along the shoreline of a lake or other body of water to provide protection for the boat from drift or the consequences of drifting.
It is readily apparent then that a portable boat dock which may be easily portable by the boat itself to be docked or by vehicle to a desired location would be quite advantageous to a sportsman or hunter or fisherman who plans to use his watercraft away from established dock facilities.
It is also obvious that there is need for boat dock apparatus which may accommodate boats of various sizes and which are adaptable to various depths of water proximate the shoreline.